IMS

When I last discussed Tango Networks the company focusing on selling FMC solutions to carriers worldwide I mentioned they were focusing on integrating text messaging into corporate phone and email systems. I have written in the past that selling to carriers as a business model is one of the most challenging ways to make money as carriers can wait so long to make decisions.

This is still the case but it is changing as service providers are facing serious disruptive threats and the need to find new services on a continual basis to offset the slowdown in revenue associated with voice and data.

It has been a number of years since its inception and the company seems to be close to going public with a number of deployments.

As a follow-up to the ITEXPO interviews I posted links to last week, here are the latest responses from the industry. Of particular interest are answers from Doug Mohney who explains how he got into the business by being employee number 11 or 12 at DIGEX. I also found the responses from Eli Katz of XConnect enlightening... If you are interested in peering or IP communications you want to give them a read.

Over 70 companies founded by one person in one industry - communications/technology (to be fair he owns hotels and golf courses as well). Over the years, tens of thousands of people were hired because of the vision of Sir Terry Matthews. He is not only a legend in communications and technology he is a legend in business.

Matthews has made his money but has not stopped investing in new companies. In fact he is running at full speed (perhaps flying is a more appropriate term - his corporate jet is among the fastest built) hiring college graduates to look for new opportunities and start companies to fill the voids they uncover.

We write thousands of stories each month at TMCnet and occasionally among all of this content we get a response to an article which is threatening or involves profanity towards us or one of our writers. Having said that, I happened to forward news about xG Technology to my editorial team a while back and I mentioned to them to be sure to research it carefully as the company is very controversial.

Why are they controversial? Well because they seem to make claim after claim regarding wireless technology which is claimed to be 25 times cheaper than comparable WiMAX equipment at 1,000 times the efficiency - yet it isn't widely deployed.

If you like soap operas, communications, technology, bankruptcies and pension liability discussions, this well-researched and well-written article by TMC's Brendan Read makes for interesting reading.

Here is an excerpt:

Tony Marsh, for the Nortel Retirees Protection Committee, told TMCnet that Nortel's Canadian pension liability is over $2 billion but is only 69 percent funded. There are no national pension guarantee funds in Canada unlike in the United States and the United Kingdom. There is only the Ontario program, the Ontario Pension Benefit Guarantee Fund.

There is a once in a lifetime opportunity ahead of us as the government prepares to spend unprecedented amounts of money for a variety of initiatives. The reality is that a small percentage of companies are doing most of the selling and the government is looking for more companies to do business with in order to increase diversity and share the wealth.

Are you getting a piece of this pie? Are you knowledgeable enough about government purchases so you can benefit from this market?

I spent a solid week in Silicon Valley and as I wrap up my trip and reflect back on the companies I met with I was pretty happy to see a good deal of optimism from the communications and technology executives I met with. Some areas of growth are the usual spaces such as products which support broadband growth and wireless backhaul.

For the companies not in those spaces there seems to be more optimism coming from companies which are not the premium players in their markets. The so-called value players seem to be attracting more interest as budgets have tightened.

While communications and technology solutions have the ability to drastically reduce costs associated with travel by simulating trips via conferencing - telepresence, etc... The reality is technology is also responsible for more and more energy use. Think about all the computers and consumer electronics devices in use today and you realize why you always seem to have too few outlets in your home and office.

A great trend I am seeing is the use of alternative power solutions to minimize energy use while still allowing communications and technology progress.

I know we are in a recession and everything is supposed to be gloom and doom, etc. but please indulge me as I remind many of you just how important it is in these tough times to get new customers.

It is for this reason I feel compelled to remind you ITEXPO has become the world's communications conference - the place you need to go to find new products and services. As a result, vendors/exhibitors were thrilled with ITEXPO in Miami this past January.

A while back I headed out to Sardinia Italy to attend a media roundtable hosted by Tiscali International Network regarding the state and future of broadband technology. I do get invited to quite a few of these press/analyst events and this one really stood out in my mind due to the quality of the speakers and the location of the event itself. Sardinia is located in the middle of the Mediterranean and if you picture Italy as a boot kicking Sicily - a soccer ball, Sardinia would be located at the top of the kick.